Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: Chasinee Stanley races down the court as No. 1 Fort Thomas blew out No. 8 (Tucson) Desert Christian 64-23 in the 1A State Girls Basketball Championship Playoffs Quarterfinals on Saturday.
By Jon Johnson
FORT THOMAS – The No. 1 Fort Thomas Apaches dominated all phases of the game Saturday in a blowout 64-23 quarterfinal victory over No. 8 (Tucson) Desert Christian Eagles in the 1A Girls State Basketball Playoffs on Saturday.
Fort Thomas went unbeaten in its conference during the regular season and has peeled off 18 straight wins in a row in its quest to repeat as the 1A State Girls Basketball Champions.
Standing next in their way, however, will be the No. 4 Leading Edge Academy-Gilbert Spartans (7-0 region, 13-1 conference, 22-8 overall), which defeated the No. 5 Joseph City Wildcats 58-52 in the other quarterfinal matchup in Fort Thomas’ upper bracket. Fort Thomas was victorious in the pair’s only meeting this season, defeating the Spartans in Gilbert 52-42 on Jan. 15.
“They (Leading Edge) shoot a lot of 3’s,” Fort Thomas head coach Lee Haws said. “They know what they do. They play a 2-3 zone. They have a really big girl who is like 6’2”, (or) 6’4” – around there – on the low block, so we’re going to have to run them and hope for the best.”
The Apaches (6-0 region, 16-0 conference, 29-3 overall) opened an early 14-3 lead with 4:08 left in the first quarter and pushed it to 21-5 by the end of the period.
The Apaches were deadly from deep and hit three 3-pointers in each of the first three quarters.
The Fort started off with Kenia McCabe, Jasmine Olivar, and Hailey Hinton all hitting from deep in the first. Hinton and Olivar repeated the feat in the second quarter, with Tyesha Wilson joining the party. Olivar continued to score from deep in the third on her way to a game-high 20 points, and Chase Stanley nailed two in the third quarter. Kaylei Preston hit the last long ball in a truncated fourth quarter due to the mercy-rule running clock.
While sharpshooting from afar, the Apaches’ swarming defense led to multiple fast-break layup opportunities and Fort Thomas was generous with the ball, hitting the open teammate for easy shots.
“The girls have really been buying into good defense and putting pressure on the ball will lead to a turnover to the easy offense,” Haws said. “They’re helping each other out. We’re still working on some things – you can tell sometimes we reach too much – but it really is good.”
Coach Haws emptied his bench with three minutes and change left in the game and a 39-point lead. Every Apache on the roster scored in the game, led by Jasmine Olivar with 20; Chasinee Stanley with 10; Alleenna Gilbert with 8; Hailey Hinton with 6; Kenia McCabe with 5; Kerstynn Bryce with 4; Kaylei Preston and Tyesha Wilson each with 3 points, and Andryana Talgo had 1 point.
The Apaches held the Eagles to just 5 points in the first quarter and 6 points in the second. The Eagles scored more than that combined with 12 in the third but were held scoreless in the running-clock fourth quarter.
Fort Thomas will next play in the state semifinals in the Prescott area against No. 4 (Gilbert) Leading Edge Academy on Friday, Feb. 18. The venue and time have yet to be announced.
“I’m super excited for our team to make it to the semis,” Haws said. “I’ve always told them, for me, every year you want to win a state championship but you have to get into the semifinals and that’s where the good teams are . . . So, I’m excited for them to go to Prescott again. It’s always a good experience for our team to do that.”
Click here to view the Gila Herald photo album of the game.
In other local girls basketball playoff news:
In 2A, No. 10 Morenci will host a conference playoff game in the 2A State Girls Basketball Conference Play-in game on Tuesday, Feb. 15 versus No. 23 Glendale Prep, starting at 7 p.m.
No. 1 Pima is an automatic qualifier and will have its first playoff game in the Prescott area in the 2A Girls Basketball Championship Playoffs. The first round of the tournament will be filled after the play-in games are complete.
In 3A, No. 1 Thatcher will have a bye for the opening round and will host either No. 16 Show Low or No. 17 Wickenburg on Friday, Feb. 18, starting at 7 p.m. Show Low hosts Wickenburg on Tuesday, Feb. 15, starting at 7 p.m.
On the boys side of things:
In 2A, No. 11 Morenci will host a conference playoff game in the 2A State Boys Basketball Conference Play-in game on Wednesday, Feb. 16 versus No. 22 Scottsdale Prep.
No. 3 Pima is an automatic qualifier and will have its first playoff game in the Prescott area in the 2A Boys Basketball Championship Playoffs.
In 3A, No. 9 Thatcher will host No. 24 Parker in the opening round of the 3A Boys State Championship Playoffs on Wednesday, Feb. 16, starting at 7 p.m.
